Who is Tōru Takemitsu?

Seiji Ozawa wrote, " Takemitsu… is the first Japanese composer to write for a world audience and achieve international recognition." He wrote 100 films scores, hundreds of independent works of music and 20 books!

WHAT DID HE BELIEVE?Music is a form of prayer.

"Music should be able to invoke the natural emotions in all human beings. Music is not notes fixed on a piece of paper."

"My music is like a garden, and I am the gardener. Listening to my music can be compared with walking through a garden and experiencing the changes in light, pattern and texture."

WHO WERE HIS INFLUENCES?His greatest influences were Duke Ellington, nature, Olivier Messaien, John Cage, Debussy, Mahler, and traditional Japanese Music.

Listen to Takemitsu

Click the link here for the trailer of Akira Kurasawa’s Shakespearan masterpiece Ran. Hear why Takemitsu was the preeminent composer of film score in Japan.

Rain Tree 2, played by Peter Serkin, written by Takemitsu to honor the memory of his great friend the composer Olivier Messiaen.

Air, a solo flute piece written for the great Aurele Nicole. This is the last piece Takemitsu wrote before his death.

Festival composer sketches by NANCY SUMMERS

What Our Patrons Are Saying:

"This is a world-class festival, and Charlottesville is so lucky to have them return each year."

"Fresh performers, cutting edge compositions interspersed with classics, welcoming venues...this is music as it should be."